SNOQUALMIE – The Mount Si Wildcats girls soccer team didn’t have to wait long to find their spark offensively. After a difficult 0-0 tie Oct. 6 with Bellevue, the Wildcats went to Sammamish last Tuesday, took care of the Totems and made their way back into second place in the Kingco 3A standings.
Monica Nelson’s third goal of the year started things off in the 15th minute, then Mariana Zanella popped in a goal in the 27th minute to give Mount Si a 2-0 win. Jordyn Wilson assisted on the Zanella goal, which was the freshman’s first ever high-school point for the Wildcats.
“That goal from Wilson to Zanella was so beautiful, I wish I had that on tape. Zanella made a great run and Jo placed that ball in the attacking third where we are very dangerous,” coach Darren Brown said in an e-mail.
Patriots no problem for ‘Cats
The Wildcats went to Liberty Friday night looking to avenge an early-season tie at home to the Patriots and they did so, winning the game 3-1 behind goals from Zanella, Nelson and Jordan Tipton.
Tipton’s goal came first, late in the first half. After Liberty’s Anna Skutley scored in the 28th minute on a breakaway to put the Patriots on top, Mount Si quickly responded. The Wildcats came back with a flurry of misses off the crossbar, but then Tipton, in the 37th minute, took a misplay by Liberty’s goalkeeper and sent the ball into the back of the net to tie the game at 1-1.
“You’ve just got to be aggressive and she just misplayed the ball and I was aggressive and put it in,” Tipton said.
Zanella took a pass from Jessica Oliver and broke away in the 49th minute and fired a shot into the net to give the Wildcats the lead for good. Then Nelson’s fourth goal of the year, in second-half stoppage time, put the icing on the cake. Zanella had an assist on the goal. Zanella, prior to last week, wasn’t a major factor on the stat sheet, but now she is.
“I knew I just needed to keep playing really hard and eventually, hopefully, they would come. It’s working for me so I’m really excited,” Zanella said.
The referees were quite busy. Between the two teams there were almost 40 free kicks awarded in the game. The Patriots played the game with their star Kayla Gunderson on the field. Gunderson, who apparently had been lost for the season after a serious knee injury in the Patriots 1-1 tie at Mount Si last month, played most of the contest. She was wearing heavy tape on the knee, but that did not stop her from playing very hard in the game.
The Wildcats go into this week at 6-1-3, with 21 points, four points ahead of third-place Bellevue. Based on the remaining league schedule, it appears the Wildcats will be going to the playoffs, but will have to fight off the Wolverines (5-3-2, 17 points) and Mercer Island (4-4-2, 14 points) to get there. Mount Si owns the head-to-head tiebreaker against Bellevue (1-0-1). Four teams advance to Kingco’s playoffs this season, unlike the three last year.
Mount Si has a huge game, maybe the Kingco 3A game of the season, Thursday night at home against first- place Issaquah. The game is expected to be quite a barn burner, as both teams boast some of the best players on the Eastside. The Eagles feature superstar sophomore midfielder Kate Deines, who has already proven to be a Wildcat killer. She had assists on both Issaquah goals in a 2-0 Eagle win over the Wildcats earlier this season. Seniors Sarah Taussig and Lindsey Kasser also are potent for Issaquah. Kickoff time is 7:30 p.m.
